


Set in Noise (DISCONTINUED)

by lexaliciaclarkelyza



Category: Clexa au - Fandom, Lexark - Fandom, Modern AU - Fandom, clexa - Fandom
Genre: Boarding School AU, Eventual Smut, F/F, Slow Burn, Volleyball AU, soft clexa
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 04:09:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7085071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexaliciaclarkelyza/pseuds/lexaliciaclarkelyza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke Griffin is torn away from her home, her boyfriend, and even her father's grave when she has to move as her mom gets a new job in Pennsylvania. Sent to the esteemed boarding school of the area for her senior year, Clarke finds herself roommates with two members of the school Volleyball team, Raven and Octavia, who convince her to join. Earning her place on the team isn't easy, especially considering that she and the team captain Lexa Woods, known around campus as 'The Commander', seem to get off on the wrong foot. Struggling to prove herself to Lexa and settle into her new environment, Clarke soon begins to resent her captain as she feels pressured to try so hard. When Clarke finds out the hard as commander isn't as rock solid as she is believed to be, everything just gets even more confusing for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Set in Noise (DISCONTINUED)

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 is just an introduction into the setting and scenario, Lexa and other characters will be introduced and interacted with in the next chapter.

Her breathe got caught in her throat as she heard the rumbling of the car approaching the driveway. Her mom was home from work. Time seemed to slow as hundreds of thoughts flew through Clarke's head. The first being a memory, or rather a series of memories, from when she was still small enough to need her father to lift her up to the sink so she could spit when she brushed her teeth. Back then, the sound of the car in the driveway sent the young girl squealing with joy as she ran to door to meet either her mother or father, whoever was coming in at the time. She would stretch her pudgy little arms up and grasp at nothingness in the empty space until they would pick her up and rest her at their hip as she giggled cheerfully. Now, Clarke could not think of anything worse happening at this very moment than her mom pulling up to the house she loved so much. With every passing second, Clarke's heart broke a little further.

She heard the car door close, and then another one open again as her mom grabbed her stuff before closing again, and the click clack click clack click clack of Abby's heels on the pavement as she approached the door. Clarke grumbled miserably to herself as she slumped to the floor, her back sliding against her bedroom door until her butt hit carpet. As her mom fumbled around with the keys at the front door to unlock it, Clarke weakly forced herself to look up from where her head was buried in her knees to see her empty room. She felt a sense of pain and distress as she looked at the now blank walls which once held her drawings, picture, and pieces from her favorite artists. The feeling, deep within her chest down to her gut, was similar to that of an infant being taken from the warmth of their mother's arms and placed onto a cold, hard, metal ground with no blanket or clothing to protect them from the uncomfortable surroundings. 

In her mind she could picture the outline of where her bookshelf once stood. She saw the corner where her desk had sat. The small coffee table infront of the window that she would always sit at when she drew or painted. She saw where her bed once was that she slept in every night with one leg under the blanket and one leg hanging clumsily off the bed. There were still indentations in the carpet, left from the years of pressure that bed posts had put on it. On the ceiling she could see the residue of a sticky hand she had accidentally stuck up there when she was little. She remembered that day and how devastated she was to have gotten it stuck as neither her or her mother could reach it. She was so heart broken even though she had gotten it as a toy out of the dentist's treasure chest. 

"Clarke?!" The blonde shook with surprise as she heard her name called loudly. Apparently while she was busy reminiscing about her past, her mother had come inside and started trying to find where her daughter was. Before Clarke could reply, or even get up for that matter, she toppled backwards as her mom pulling open the door she was leaning against. Narrowly hitting her head hard on the ground, stopped only by her mom's legs which blocked her, Clarke couldn't help but let out a tiny yelp as she fell back. "Oh! Sorry Clarke, what're you doing in here? I told you to be ready!" Abby exclaimed as she helped her daughter back up. The girl's clouded blue eyes met her mother's deep brown, as she began to blame her the pain she was going through with only her expression, "I just wanted to stay here as long as possible..." She looked back into her old room longingly, wishing desperately that they didn't have to go and this was all just one terrible nightmare that she would wake up from and sigh in relief before continuing with her normal life. However just like the last time she wished this, reality came to be true and she had to adapt as miserable as it was to do so. She felt guilty even thinking that this was remotely close to how she felt back then. Everything seemed to crash full force 180 miles an hours into a brick wall before catching fire and burning to ashes. Her whole world fell apart that day.

Her mom's sigh snapped her back into reality, "I know Clarke, you've made it perfectly clear how opposed you are to this move." The blonde narrowed her steely blue eyes, piercing through her mother's own eyes like thousands of needles. Her lips pursed tightly together as she clenched her fists, hard enough for her fingernails to dig into the flesh of her palms, near the point of drawing blood with much more pressure. "Yet you still don't listen no matter how many times I fight it!" She snarled through gritted teeth. Abby rubbed her forehead with her thumb and fore finger as if this conversation were giving her a headache, "Clarke I do listen, but I can't help what my job makes us do." Clarke's mom was a biomedical engineer, which Clarke had always remembered as a big fancy title that just meant that she worked with creating, researching, and testing new medicines and medical technology. It brought in a steady income sure, but the company she worked for had been at risk of being bought out for years, and one huge corporation had finally made the move and the local office was disbanded. Her mom actually had gotten lucky, many of her co-workers had gotten laid off. 

However because she and her partner were very skilled in their field, the corporate company gave them jobs in their corporate office. Problem was, said office was half way across the country. Clarke had gotten used to her life in Florida and she wasn't ready to leave. In her mind it was perfect, the winters were short, the beaches were amazing, every hidden road had its own kind of beauty, and most of all, Ringling College of Art and Design, her dream school, the school her dad graduated from was only a few hours away. Now she was expected to leave everything behind, the state she loved, all her memories, her home, her friends, well- most of her friends, her mom's partner who was being relocated aswell had a son named Wells who had been good friends with Clarke for as long as she could remember, the point is she was leaving the majority of her life behind to move to Pennsylvania. 

Clarke toyed with the deer necklace dangling from her neck. She always fiddled with it whenever she was getting angry or nervous, it gave her a strange comfort. That was another thing she couldn't bear to lose with their move; Finn. Just thinking about it made her heart ache. They had been friends since middle school and had been dating for a little over a year. When her world fell apart, Finn was there for her. Of course Wells was there too, but he had never experienced that pain of losing someone, his mom had died giving birth to him so he never got to meet her. Finn had experienced the pain, he was able to understand what Clarke was going through and be there for her. Finn was the first person she could say with certainty that she truly loved them. No one had ever made her feel the way Finn did to her. It still stung, remembering their last conversation, she had told him the horrible news as soon as she found out and of course his perfect self was there to comfort her. But their last talk, the last time they looked eachother in the eye, the last time Clarke was able to say 'I love you' face to face, the memory of it broke her heart over and over again. She and Finn had stayed up late nights just imagining the future, both aspired to go to Ringling, Clarke to get a Master of Fine Arts degree and Finn to major in metal work art and sculpture. She couldn't believe this was how their story ended. They both knew better than to expect a long distance relationship to work out for them, and neither wanted to hold the other back from finding love again. However Clarke didn't believe she would ever find someone like Finn. He had been her rock, her stable platform, her everything. 

Once again, Clarke had to be brought back to reality, standing in the empty hall with her mom who was now moving a hand to comfort her gently, "I know-" Clarke shrugged her mom's hand off of her shoulder, she didn't need sympathy, especially not from her now. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Abby slowly pull her hand back and take a deep breath, "I know this is hard for you, believe me it's hard for me too, but we have to try and make the best of it." Clarke was close to her limit, the only thing keeping her from completely lashing out at her mom was the tears that threatened to escape if she got too emotional, and she refused to let her mom see her cry right now, "Make the best of it? Make the best of it?!" Pain seared through her and she could feel her body temperature rising, she almost felt like her skin would turn read and steam would pour out of her ears like in a cartoon. How dare she suggest that? How dare she even consider the idea that this could ever be a good thing. "How? How mom?! I'd love to know how this could ever remotely be close to alright." She through her hands to the side and took a step forward, or rather a stomp forward, "Our entire life is here! This is our home! The place we buried Fluffy is here! The place I broke my wrist is here! The place we built that light box is here! Finn is here! All my memories are here! My favorite resturaunts, all my friends, my favorite teachers, my old Girl Scout troop! It's all here!" Abby's face tightened into an expression on the verge of fury, "Clarke that's enough." She finally snapped, "DAD'S GRAVE IS HERE!" 

The room fell eerily silent, quiet enough that she could hear the sprinkler system running in their neighbor's yard. Her entire body felt hollow, like a giant hole that been torn out in the middle of her. Every muscle in her shook and she couldn't explain how her legs managed to keep her up after quaking so much. She watched her mom's posture go somewhat limp as she gulped and her face fell, her lips quivered and she had to bite them to keep from breaking down. Her breathing became more of a shudder as she struggled to speak. After what seemed like an eternity of unbearable tension overwhelming all of their senses, Clarke finally broke the silence. "I get you've tried to forget about him, I just can't believe you would go so far as to run away from the last pieces of him." The blonde felt the tears coming now and she shoved past her mom to the bathroom to change. She leaned against the sink counter, gripping the edge tightly as she struggled to quiet her sobs.

\--------

Clarke sighed as Wells tried to carry on a conversation. She knew she should have patience with him but she was mentally exhausted and preferred to just stare out the plane window. Her mom's company had payed for movers to bring their stuff to their new homes in Pennsylvania and even spared the expenses of plane tickets for herself, her mom, her partner Jaha, and his son Wells. She glanced slightly to her left and saw Jaha reading on his tablet while her mom looked out her own window with a saddened expression. Clarke gulped and looked down to her knees, feeling guilty about what she had said earlier. She knew this was hard on her mom too, and she knew it was wrong to blame her, she just couldn't help but wish she had tried harder, maybe insisted on working from their home in Tallahassee. 

"Hello? Earth to Clarke? Are you okay?" Wells drew her attention away from her legs. She lifted her eyes to see his meeting hers full of concern. She made a weak smile, "Yeah, just a little tired is all." Her friend frowned, she was lying and he knew it, but he didn't push her any further, that was one of the reasons she had always enjoyed his company, he never poked around where he didn't belong. Instead he reached under his seat and pulled a mini DVD player out of a black draw string bag. He lifted the box and waved it for Clarke to see with a sweet smile on his face. 

Clarke snorted and rolled her eyes with a smirk, "You've got to be kidding me." Wells lifted a brow and smirked back, "I never kid about movies Griffin." She looked out the window for a second before turning back with sigh and a smile. That was another reason she loved hanging out with him, Wells was the only person whoever appreciated movies like Clarke did. Sometimes when they had sleepovers when they were little they would lock the bedroom door, gather snacks, water bottles, blankets, pillows and stuffed animals and make an ultimate comfort fort in Clarke's closet and just watch movies until they fell asleep leaning on eachother. Whenever Clarke saw a trailer for a movie coming soon, Wells would be the first person she'd call to ask if he would go see it with her. They had gone to the movie theatre together so much that every employee knew them by name, knew what food and snacks they wanted, and how much butter to put on their popcorn. Clarke adjusted herself to lean closer to Wells, he put the DVD player on the tray in between them and grabbed the black drawstring bag. "So what do you have in there? Anything good?" Clarke asked through a yawn, despite her lie she actually was pretty tired. Wells snorted, "Oh Clarke," he pulled over cd pouch with sleeves full of movies, there had to be atleast 60 in there, "Don't you know better than to doubt me by now?" 

\-------

They ended up watching Jurassic Park, then Soul Surfer, and then Scott Pilgrim vs the World; a basic melting pot of genres. The only reason they managed to get a third movie in, was because the plane had to make an unplanned landing that delayed the flight when a pregnant lady went into labor. Didn't they have rules against being so far into you pregnancy and being on a plane? Clarke didn't really mind though, she was enjoying watching movies, it helped to distract her from the fact that they would be entering this new setting she would have to deal with until she graduated to go to Ringling. "You know it's alright to be stressed, you don't have to bottle it up and keep it hidden. Or well, try to" Wells suggested, looking back at her with the concerned eyes he carried occasionally around her. Clarke blinked at him, "Why do you think I'm-" he cut her off with a raise of the brow and a point to her hands which were gripping the arms rests tight enough to make her knuckles white. "Oh.." Clarke murmured as she lightened her grasp. 

She turned with a somewhat relaxed smile toward Wells to say something but his eyes averted from her's, "Hey check it out" he said with a point to the window. Clarke turned her head to see where he was directing her to and her eyes widened slightly, somewhat surprised by what she saw. It was night so was wasn't very clear, but she could see the outline of a small city, filled with lights presumably hanging in the streets. As if on cue the pilot came over the intercom, stirring some lucky passengers who managed to fall asleep, "Ladies and gentlemen if you look to our right you will see the beautiful Allentown where we will now be beginning our descent into. Our flight attendants will be on shortly to help ease the exiting process for everyone, so I'd like to say thank you for flying with us today and I hope you enjoy your stay." The intercom clicked off and Clarke rolled her eyes, earning a snicker from Wells. She hated forced rhymes, it was like terrible puns to hers. As said, the flight attendants began instructions on what to do when the plane lands and comes to complete stop and where they will find their luggage in the port. Clarke didn't need to listen, she had been on many flights before, her family used to travel a lot, her dad made sure they would always take spontaneous trips, but after he died, the tradition sort of felt meaningless without him. She knew as soon as she got off the plane, Jaha would try to converse and ask how the flight was for Wells and her and discuss the plan. So to avoid that interaction, she plugged her headphones in and played music to tune out the world as they began to walk into their new life. 

As they waited for their luggage on the conveyer belt, one suitcase, a peacock green plastic one, caught her eye. It wasn't the color that did it, although it did make her keep a mental note to get some pastels in that color, but rather a sticker the luggage sported. "Polis Boarding Academy for the Gifted" A shudder escaped Clarke as she clawed at her jeans. She stiffened up remembering that one huge factor of how this move was going to be a nightmare. The flight had been a good distraction from it, but Clarke knew it was inevitable that this was something she would face soon enough, she was going to be attending Polis Boarding Academy for the Gifted.

\-----

She might as well have walked into the halls of Hogwarts; that was the first thing popped in Clarke's head and she followed the group through the school halls. The floor tiling was so glossy and clean she could nearly see her reflection, the walls of the the corridor were decorated with display cases of awards, ribbons, trophies, and letters of the esteemed students and alumni. It was a huge change from the spray painted genitalia that covered the halls of her old school. The faculty had just resigned that they would never be able to paint over the graffiti as quickly as they were being spread, so the spontaneous penis that would appear in a new place every day along the walls was just casually accepted among the staff and student body. Clarke remembered Finn spray painting one on the door of the Teacher's lounge one day as she watched giggling. Now she could only imagine the punishments for Doug such a thing at this school. Her tour guide was uncomfortably chipper. Anya was her name, and she seemed to have the incoming freshmen in the palm of her hand with her constant praise of their acceptance into the esteemed school. Clarke was the only incoming senior in the group and she was not nearly as impressed as the younger kids. 

There was however, one younger boy with scrappy, dirty blond hair, who shuffled along quietly with the group, his hands sitting comfortably in his jacket pockets. He seemed just as intrigued by the tour as Clarke, which meant he was chewing gum with dull, bored eyes, looking like he really didn't want to be here. Clarke kind of respected that, she could see that at least one other student wouldn't be like the other snobbish overachieving kids they would soon be attending school with. Clarke made a mental note of the fine arts hall that Anya pointed out before she completely tuned out the rest of the tour. By the end of the long drifting of the halls, Anya had brought them back to the front of the school where they had begun, "Alright everyone I hope you learned a lot from our tour! I can't wait to see you all next Monday, and don't forget to pick up your supplies for the new school year! Head Master Kane will be here to answer any follow up questions you have." With that, Anya gave a wave of her hand and a polite smile before turning back into the building as the tall, peppered haired man stepped forward to the group who eagerly awaited to ask questions.

Clarke looked around and saw that the scrappy haired boy had disappeared and she shrugged and moved her hand to her back pocket to grab her phone. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt the pocket empty other than an old gum wrapper. She knew it wasn't that big of a deal but still it was a sickening feeling to not have something be where it was meant to reside. Giving a final glance to the group, she started to walk back inside the school, deciding to retrace her steps as to where it might have fallen out. 

Clarke didn't have to go too long before she found it laying on the floor of the English hall. She breathed a small sigh of relief as she returned her phone to its rightful place before turning back to leave. However it was at that moment, that Clarke realized she didn't know how to get back. She now cursed herself for not paying closer attention to Anya's obnoxious rambling. She walked aimlessly, searching for anything that looked familiar when she saw none other than the tall, ombré haired Anya leaning against the wall of a corridor. 

Feeling her pride crack, Clarke dragged her feet over to the girl to ask for help with humiliation. As she drew nearer to Anya, she noticed her head turned talking to someone. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the familiar blond haired boy from earlier talking to Anya. So they knew eachother, Clarke concluded. It was hen when she returned her gaze to Anya she saw the cigarette- no joint- hanging from her mouth lazily. Huh, Clarke thought to herself, maybe she was less uptight than she had initially judged. "Excuse me," Clarke requested with a cough, she felt a little better asking for help, now seeing that Anya was cooler than she predicted, "Hi, I uh think I got a little turned around." She continued as Anya turned her head to her. 

Seeing that it was someone from the tour, her eye twitched as if annoyed before tossing the joint and returning to the chipper act she had portrayed before, "Need help?" she asked, turning her body completely towards Clarke. Her sudden change of tone earned a snicker from the boy behind her, who was quickly nudged with Anya's foot to hush. Clarke could see that she clearly had to force this cheerful volunteer act. She couldn't help herself but snort as well, "Seems like kind of a waste," she pointed to the waste bin she had tossed the joint into, "Hope you didn't pay too much for it." Anya, now seeing that Clarke was much more relaxed and laid back than the others, dropped the act and smirked with a roll of her eyes, "Yeah it was a shitty one anyways, no big deal. So you're lost?" Clarke nodded in admission, scratching her forearm uncomfortably. Anya stretched her arms behind her back with a grunt, "Don't worry about it, everyone gets lost. I still do it every now and then and I graduated three years ago." The blond haired boy stepped out from behind Anya to look at Clarke now. "Yeah but then again Anya's a dumbass so don't try and follow her as an example," he sneered, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from the taller girl. 

They had to know each other, probably siblings, Clarke concluded to herself, seeing how comfortable they were together. Then again they didn't look alike at all, maybe one or both of them were adopted. Anya rolled her eyes at the boy and pointed toward one of the many hallways ahead of them. "Well you actually weren't that far off, entrance is through there." Clarke craned her neck to see where she was pointing to before turning back and giving a nod of appreciation, "Thanks." Anya just hummed in reply as she went to light another joint she retrieved from her pocket. Clarke followed her directions and found herself out of the school soon, much to her relief. 

Looking back at her phone now she saw three missed calls from Wells. "Shit." She said to herself, forgetting that he was the one picking her up. Clarke didn't have a car, neither did her mom actually, she and Jaha had carpooled for years and Clarke's old school was biking distance from their house. She heard a honk come from the familiar pick up truck which had drawn disgusted glances from some of the freshmen. Hopping into the passenger seat with Wells at the wheel she sighed as she buckled up and put her feet on the dash. "Sorry I left my phone and then got lost." Clarke grumbled to her friend. He looked to her with an expecting expression, "So I'm guessing you hated it?" Clarke shrugged and looked out the window to the school she would be going to come Monday, "It's exactly like I thought it would be." Well tried to cheer her up as he started the ignition and began to leave the school parking lot, "Well maybe you'll have cool dormmmates? You said you have two right? Have you met them?" Clarke grunted to herself, "Yeah I've got two, but no I haven't, I think they move in too on Saturday." As she said this, she realized how close it actually was, only three days until then, which meant only five days until school started. She groaned in misery, hanging her head back in the seat as Wells patted her shoulder with his free hand. 

\---- 

"Clarke are you ready? We were supposed to leave thirty minutes ago!"  
Clarke grumbled to herself as she heard her mom holler across the apartment. Her back was killing her and she swore she could hear her spine laughing at her as she tried to stand up. That's what she got for sleeping on the ground. The new apartment was almost completely furnished, painted, and ready except that the movers accidentally lost the boxes with Abby's bed frame in it. She had insisted that both she and Clarke could sleep on the pullout couch just fine for a couple of nights but there was nothing she wanted more right now than alone time. Clarke looked over at the alarm clock, which along with some of her art supplies, was the only thing unpacked. She figured there wasn't really any point in unpacking just to pack up again three days later. With a heavy sigh, she threw her art supplies and clock and tossed them in one last box, the only one still in the apartment, threw her jacket on, and stepped out of the spare room. Her mom was standing by the kitchen talking to Jaha and Wells when she turned to see her daughter approaching. 

She smiled softly at Clarke, "You look cute." Clarke knew she was trying to lighten the mood, although that was a pretty shitty attempt since Clarke wasn't exactly worried about her physical appearance. "Thanks." She grunted as she rolled her shoulders forward, trying to ease the pain in her back, the box she was carrying certainly wasn't helping. Thankfully, Wells stepped forward and grabbed the box from her, "I got it, I need to work off that pizza from last night." Certainly didn't take him long to get back into routine, Clarke thought to herself, he had always been pretty athletic. Despite her thoughts, she let out a sigh of relief as the literal weight was lifted and she flopped her head on his shoulder, "Bless you Wells." He snorted and walked toward the apartment door, nudging her off gently, "I am pretty great aren't I?" He gave a warm smirk to her as she rolled her eyes and followed him out. 

"Clarke wait!" Abby called out behind them. She turned to see her mom in the door way looking nervous, "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you to help you move into your new dorm?" She blinked at her mother and gave her an appreciative nod but responded with, "No thanks mom, Wells and I got it." Clarke gestured behind her to where Wells was patiently trying to balance the heavy box as he stood on one of the outside stairs, yet still he tried to wave awkwardly through the clumsy mess. "Besides" Clarke continued, "Don't you guys have to meet your new boss?" Abby shuffled her feet and scratched at her arm uncomfortably, "Well yes- but this is more important I can ask her if I can reschedule" Clarke looked at her mom was remorseful eyes, she was really trying to make things better between them. A pain of guilt hit her chest as she began to wish she had slept on the pullout couch with her to ease her mother's worries. 

"It's okay Mrs. G, I won't let her do any heavy lifting," she could hear Wells reassure her from behind. Clarke nodded to try and put her mother at ease, "It's fine mom, visitation days are on the weekends, I'll be able to see you in a week." From the way her mom weakly smiled, she could tell that's not what she was worried about. They both knew how independent Clarke was, and back before things started to turn bad, they would joke that Abby could be gone for a month and Clarke wouldn't even notice. Whatever it was that Abby was worried about, she must have let it go as she sighed and gently shooed them off, "Okay, well you'd better get there soon so you can have your own pick of a bed." With a curt nod, Clarke turned to head down the steps, seeing Wells was already going down. 

\-----

"You know you are going to have to get out eventually?"  
Wells' knowing voice brought Clarke back to reality from staring blankly at the residence hall infront of them. They had been in the parking lot for a good ten minutes and all Clarke could do was anxiously pick at her arms and look at the brick building ahead of her. After several more seconds of silence, Wells opened the truck door and got out to go around and open Clarke's door. She reluctantly dragged herself out of the passenger seat and looked at Wells like he was forcing her to go to the dentist, "What if my roommates are snobs? I can't do wine and cheese parties Wells I can't do it." He snorted and punched her gently in the arm playfully, "Clarke I seriously doubt you are going to be roomies with the dukes of Wales." Clarke rolled her eyes and punched him back, biting back some nausea from the nerves. Wells must have been able to tell she was anxious so he quickly tried to lighten the mood, "Come on Griffin, I let you borrow a good chunk of my movies to get you to relax, but if that won't do it I can always just take them back-" Clarke quickly shot him a look and snatched the box of movies that had been sitting in her foot rest, "No Chance Smells'" Wells sneered in response and smacked the back of her head lightly, "Shut it Princess." 

These two nicknames had been used by the two friends since they were little. Whenever any other kid would use the nickname it was rude and the other would step in to defend them, but as soon as they were away from school, they couldn't go a day without teasing eachother with it. Wells grabbed Clarke's two duffle bags of clothes and hung them over his two shoulders before picking up two boxes and stacking them on top of eachother to carry easier. Clarke grabbed her suitcase of art supplies and the box of movies before heading toward the stairs, she could hear an exasperated grunt from Wells behind her, who clearly picked up more than he could carry, "What floor are you on again?" Clarke snorted over her shoulder, "Third," she said, awaiting his response. "Shit," he grumbled, adjusting his shoulders as he carried the heavy loads. 

\----

Clarke waited at the top of the stairs for Wells and smirked at him knowingly, her head resting casually on the rails, "What took you so long." Instead of voicing a reply, Wells set the bags and boxes on the ground to take a break as he heaved and flicked her off coldly. Clarke chuckled at his response and turned back to the door behind her; room 352. She didn't realize she had been standing still, her shoulders tense and a hand on the door knob for several moments, until she felt a steady hand on her shoulder. She looked back to Wells who gave her a warm and encouraging smile. With a deep breath she unlocked the door with her given key and pushed it open. 

Immediately something plastic hit her forehead, sending her reeling back into Wells who fell over one of her boxes. Clarke landed on her butt with a thud and instantly felt a pain in her tail bone. She groaned and held a hand to her forehead where she was hit and Wells pushed himself up onto his elbows and awkwardly tried to lift on of his legs over from where it laid on her lap, only to smack her in the side of the head. "Sorry!" The apology came from seemingly two different directions, making Clarke wonder if whatever hit her gave her a concussion, no it was too light it couldn't have, still hurt like shit though. Clarke looked up to see a dark haired girl with bright hazel eyes staring down at her with an arm extended to help her out, that's where the second apology came from. After a second of hesitation, Clarke grabbed her forearm and let her help her up. 

Wells stood up behind her and started to wipe the dirt from his pants. The dark haired girl leaned down to grab what had hit Clarke, a bright red frisbee. She blinked a little confused at it and then the girl, and then the girl in the doorway behind her. "Nice one Blake." the girl in the doorway sneered, leaning against the frame by her shoulder with her arms crossed and an amused smirk. The girl who helped her up shot an icy glare at the other girl before returning her gaze to Clarke, "I'm so sorry about that, the dumbass behind me kept throwing it at me and so I tried to throw it back and then- well." Clarke knew this could go either one of two ways, these two girls who were probably her roommates, seemed pretty cool, so if she shrugged the apology off disgust, they probably wouldn't end up getting along. 

She decided to play it friendly no matter how much it had hurt both her head and her ass, along with her pride of course, "No worries, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she smiled and rolled her shoulders awkwardly. The the girl with hazel eyes sighed in relief and she smiled back at her, "Yeah- you must be Clarke right? Clarke Griffith?" She heard a snort from the girl in the doorway, "Griffin, Clarke Griffin. And I'm the dumbass" she corrected teasingly, earning yet another look from the girl in front of her, she must get a lot of those looks. "Sorry, Clarke Griffin" she repeated with an emphasis on her last name to get the other girl off her back. "I'm Octavia, and the bitch in the doorway is Raven." Clarke smiled at their banter, they seemed cool enough, nothing like she expected. The girl named Raven stepped out of the doorway to greet her and smirked at Wells, "This your boyfriend?" Clarke gave a brisk and soft laugh as she shook her head, Wells was blushing awkwardly behind her, "No, he's just my friend, we've known eachother since we were in diapers." 

Octavia smiled at Wells, "Cute, well the only reason Raven was asking is cause we don't really care if you have guys over, we'd just rather get some notice like a text if we are in the room so we can get out of your way." Raven laughed as she turned to go back in, "Yeah, we had to deal with those, heated sleepovers a lot last year with our old roommate." 

Clarke could hear Wells shuffling his feet uncomfortably behind her, he probably felt out of place. She was kind of surprised when she saw Octavia lean down to grab on of the boxes Clarke had brought up, "Come on in, it's getting pretty cold outside." Clarke readily obliged and grabbed her suitcase and on of the duffle bags that Wells had carried up. She heard him grab the last duffle bag and box behind her as she stepped into the dorm. 

It was a lot different than she expected. This was an esteemed boarding school so she expected to walk into a luxury, over the top room, when instead she found herself in a cozy, brightly colored room with two bright orange walls and one bright green. There was a neon purple rug in the middle of the floor and a few strings of Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. To the left side of the room there was a bunk bed whose top bunk matched the room with a brightly colored bed spread and an unusually large amount of throw pillows. The bottom bunk was drastically different with a basic grey bed spread and a single white pillow. On the right side of the room there another bunk bed but with only the top bunk as a bed, which was unclaimed, and the bottom bunk was instead a desk and bookshelf. Behind both beds, at the back of the room, there were two desks directly across from eachother at the opposite sides, each facing its own wall. Again one was decorated somewhat chaotically while the other had some text books, a Gatorade bottle, and a messy display of pens on top. The back wall parallel to the door frame Clarke stood in had a window with the ac unit right below it. The bathroom was immediately to her right with its door wide open, almost hitting the empty bunk bed- desk beside it. And on her left was microfridge with some cabinets on the wall above it. It was small and full, yes, but it was strangely roomy and open, it had a nice high ceiling she like and it seemed like there was just enough room for the three of them to live without getting claustrophobic. 

Raven gestured to the empty bunk bed-desk with the frisbee she had snatched from Octavia, "That one's all yours Griffin, sorry you got stuck with the ac vent right up on you." Clarke actually didn't mind at all, she was naturally hot natured which made living in Florida her whole life hell. As she approached the bed, she noticed some drawers on the bottom of the steps that led up to it, those would make confident places to put her clothes. 

That's exactly what she ended up doing with them as she began to unpack with Wells' help. All her art supplies found themselves tucked neatly in the desk below her bed. Every piece found its own place, her Prismacolor pencils fit nicely in one of the drawers, organized by color with dividers. Her sketchbooks fit perfectly in another drawer. All her Copic markers that she had spent years collecting found their place in her marker racks which she placed at the back of the desk, and her laptop and tablet managed to squeeze in the extra space of the desk. With the remaining box of movies which she easily slid under the desk and her make up and bathroom supplies set in one of the empty spare drawers left for her, she seemed almost completely moved in. Almost. 

She turned to Wells who had been extremely generous to help her move in, and smiled sadly at him. She knew she wouldn't get to see him much since he had gotten in to play for the school's football team, which practiced year round so he wouldn't exactly have a ton of spare free time. She seriously didn't want to lose it infront of her roommates, it would make a terrible first impression, but she couldn't help herself from collapsing into Wells with a tight hug. He had been so good to her, helping her with this move and calming her nerves, it would be hard to go the bulk of her time without his company to watch movies or people watch with. After a few moments, Wells gently pushed her out of the embrace and smiled warmly at her, "I'd love to stick around but I have my own dorm to move into, and you got some roommates to get to know." Clarke nodded and watched him walk out the door, closing it behind him. 

She turned back toward the open room and found two pairs of eyes on her. Raven who smirked from the bottom bunk on the left was the first to speak, "Well at-least you two are cooler than the Blake siblings." Octavia rolled her eyes but didn't deny it, "It's not my fault I got stuck with the worlds clingiest brother." Clarke smiled at her roommates for a second, she didn't know them that much at all but she had a feeling they would get along.  
Clarke climbed up onto her bed with her laptop and a copy of Step Brothers under her arm, ready to relax her own way like Octavia and Raven were doing when she heard Octavia pipe up, "Oh hey Raven, what kind of knee pads did you get for tryouts, mine are shit." There was a silent pause where Clarke wondered if she meant Volleyball knee pads, she did notice a poster of a volleyball team when she walked in. "You did remember to get it along with your school supplies right?" Octavia inquired. Another silent pause. "Raven. Did you even remember to get school supplies?" Clarke paused the movie and pulled out her earbuds, having not even been paying attention to the movie anyway. This pause was a bit longer than the others but Clarke figured she knew what the answer was. Raven finally broke the silence with more of a clumsy remark than actually admitting it. "Shit."


End file.
